Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger cannot believe he is still standing after 21 years in charge as he approaches landmark fixture
Gunners chief will equal Sir Alex Ferguson's record of 810 Premier League games in charge when he takes his side to Crystal Palace
ARSENE WENGER has played Russian roulette for 21 years — and cannot believe he dodged all the managerial carnage around him.
The veteran Arsenal boss will equal Sir Alex Ferguson’s record of 810 Premier League games in charge tonight.
And Wenger admits that in these trigger-happy times, his incredible longevity in football is as much down to luck as judgement.
The Frenchman, 68, has broken more records than he cares to remember during his time as Britain’s longest-serving manager.
Yet he sometimes wonders how he lasted for quite so long in such a cut-throat business where the average survival rate is now less than 20 months.
Ahead of tonight’s trip to Crystal Palace, he admitted: “If you had told me before my first game as Arsenal manager I would still be in charge 21 years later, I would have said, ‘No chance — you are absolutely mad’.
“I never thought I would get to this age in the job because every single game is such a huge gamble.
“It’s Russian roulette every week so it’s absolutely unbelievable you can pull the trigger for that long without the bullet hitting you at some stage.
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“You could never predict that. This record is down to many things, including loyalty, determination, hard work and the sacrifice of your life.
“But there is also the luck of working for a club which has always trusted in me — through the good and the bad periods.”
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Wenger knows if many Gunners fans had their way, he would be out of a job tomorrow after failing to win the title since 2004.
But he has long come to terms with the knowledge that he will never be able to please everyone — and remains determined to see the best in even his fiercest critics.
He warned: “If you are paranoid, don’t choose this job.
“The ultimate goal is to make everyone happy but unfortunately you don’t always manage to do that.
“One quality that maybe people never talk about is the ability to believe in human beings. When you are such a long time in the job, you are not naive.
“You know all the strengths and weaknesses and understand that people can sometimes be selfish or mean. But you still have to believe that there is a light in every human being that you can bring out.”
The biggest change the long-suffering Frenchman has noticed during his time at the Gunners helm is a huge increase in the number of self-appointed experts telling him how to do his job.
He explained: “The core of the game on the pitch is the same — but we now live in a more demanding society that is much more opinionated.
“People are more educated and better informed, although there is also more suspicion.
“The overall problem in Europe is that the respect for basic things has been lost, or is less strong, than it was 20 years ago.
“For example, 20 years ago you would go to see the doctor and he would tell you what was wrong with you and you would say, ‘OK, I will go home and follow your advice’.
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“Today, you have looked up your problems on the internet before you go to the doctor and he has to convince you that don’t have what you necessarily think you have. In every job, people are questioned more. That is certainly the case in football where these values are challenged and you have no stability.
“We have already changed six managers in the Premier League this season.
“But even if you change all 20, you will still have three who will be relegated and only one who can win the title.
“Now when a club sacks a manager they ask, ‘Who do we take now?’ and they take somebody who has been sacked somewhere else.
“So maybe the clubs need to be stronger internally to resist that.”
Arsenal are five points worse off than they were at the same stage of last season, when they trailed home in fifth place — their lowest finish under Wenger.
They are down in sixth place ahead of tonight’s trip to Selhurst Park and struggling to stay in contention for Champions League qualification.
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho this week complained that spending £300million on new players is no longer enough for a club with ambitions of winning the title.
But cash-conscious Wenger, who spent just £52m in the last summer transfer window and recouped £20m in player sales, has little sympathy for his long-term nemesis.
He pointed out: “I have been in that position for 21 years, so I will not start to complain now.
“There have always been three or four teams richer than I was, so I learned to cope with it and deal with our own situation as well as I can.
“Manchester City are richer than us and so are Manchester United and Chelsea, but I still believe we have to find a way to be successful.
“We are not happy to be where we are in the table and, of course, we should be higher. The club do not put in all the effort and hard work to be sixth. We want to be higher up than that.”
Wenger will be without the injured Nacho Monreal, Olivier Giroud and Aaron Ramsey for tonight’s trip to Palace.
The Gunners will stick with a back four, which means free summer signing Sead Kolasinac is likely to be on the bench again.